Montana State track and field opens their home season in an abbreviated form Monday and Tuesday as they host a multi-event track and field meet at Worthington Arena. Participants from University of Montana in addition to MSU-Billings will compete with the 'Cats.
“This is a unique meet,” head coach Dale Kennedy said. “The multi athletes only have two meets to qualify for conference. This is one of them and the other is in Pocatello in February.”
MSU's returning core of multi athletes includes sophomore Sarah McGree from Butte. McGree competed last year as a newbie, as the pentathlon is not a high school event in Montana. Now, she is the elder of the group that includes two freshmen. McGree learned the ropes from multi standout Amanda DeHaan who graduated in nursing last spring.
“At first it was kind of scary to be the oldest one in the event, but now I'm settling down some,” McGree said.”
McGree hopes to better her scores from last season and qualify for the conference meets and maybe get an all-conference place and move on to the regional meet in the outdoor season. She was a conference qualifier last year in both the pentathlon (indoor) and the heptathlon (outdoor).
The pentathlon is a series of five events each athlete participates in. Their point scores in each event are determined by their performance against a national scale, not their place. The qualifying standard for the Big Sky Conference women is 4100 points. McGree's best from last year was 4638. Her strengths are the events she did in high school track; hurdles and long jump. She says she spends the most time working on her shot put and finds the pole vault the most challenging.
On the men's side, junior Asa Staven returns with all-conference credentials in high jump and long jump, his strongest events in the men's heptathlon. Staven led the multi field after day one of the conference meet last indoor season, but suffered an injury that kept him from placing ultimately.
“Asa had a tough year last year with injuries,” Kennedy said. “But we think he's healthy and ready to go. There's a good chance he could qualify for the NCAA meet this indoor season.”
In order to reach the goal of qualifying for the national indoor meet, Staven would have to amass 5300 points in the event to earn an automatic qualifying mark. The Big Sky Conference meet qualifying mark in 4500 points. Staven's season best in 2009 was 5142. There are only four chances to qualify for the national meet in the indoor season, including the conference meet and an optional “Last Chance” meet just before the national championship.
Admission to the Monday-Tuesday event at MSU is free.
